Greg Schirf hitchhiked to Park City in 1974, leaving a legendary beer city for a state hardly known for its consumption of alcohol.
Schirf, who grew up in Milwaukee, Wis., by the middle of the 1980s had started brewing his own beer, beginning with a small brewery in the Iron Horse district in 1986. Three years later he opened the Wasatch Brew Pub on Main Street, offering a restaurant alongside his company’s beers.
“I was optimistic, just trying to make it to the next payroll at the time,” Schirf said in an interview as he prepared to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Wasatch Beers, now under the umbrella of the Utah Brewers Cooperative.
A bash is planned on Saturday at City Park, running from 11 a.m. until 6 p.m. Organizers anticipate between 500 and 750 people will attend, a report submitted to Mayor Dana Williams and the Park City Council indicated. The event at City Park will feature live music and kids activities. Beer will be served. The City Council on Thursday night approved a permit for the event as well as a resolution commemorating the 25th anniversary of the brewery’s founding.
Schirf sees his company as having had a role in dispelling notions that it is difficult to find alcohol in Utah, long a concern in tourism-heavy Park City. He said the Wasatch Brew Pub on Main Street was able to advertise to tourists that beer is brewed and served in Park City.
“The contribution, to make this a viable tourist destination, is huge,” Schirf said.
Schirf recalled being an instrumental figure as state laws were changed in the 1980s allowing brew pubs to operate in Utah. The state’s alcohol laws remain among the strictest in the nation, but tourism officials and places that serve beer and liquor have made inroads over the years in having some of them loosened.
Over the years, Schirf became a colorful figure whose advertising campaigns received widespread publicity for their satires. During the era around the 2002 Winter Olympics, a beer called the Wasatch Unofficial 2002 Amber Ale was introduced. The name was meant to point out the tight control Games organizers held over words like ‘Olympics.’ Companies that were not official sponsors were prohibited from using the words and logos in their marketing.
In a release announcing the Saturday event, Wasatch Beers said the brewery has “unwaveringly provided liquid solace and comfort to deprived, frustrated and thirsty locals yearning to imbibe a true Park City beer.”
The one-page City Hall resolution commemorating the anniversary notes that Wasatch Beers overcame “the unlikely odds of operating a successful brewery in a sometimes hostile environment.” The brewery, meanwhile, employed hundreds of people in Park City, the resolution reads, adding that it supported “the image of Park City as a hospitable and fun loving place where visitors from all over the world are welcome.”
Wasatch Beers this year has the capacity to make 52,000 barrels of beer, more than 17 times the capability when it was founded. It is sold in numerous places in Park City and elsewhere in the United States.
The No Name Saloon and Butcher’s Chop House and Bar, two places on Main Street under the same ownership, carries three Wasatch Beers labels between the two places, said Jesse Shetler, the owner of both.
Shetler said people visiting Park City in recent years have sought out beers from smaller breweries, cutting into the sales of national brands. The three beers are sold in bottles at the No Name Saloon and Butcher’s Chop House.
“Wasatch is definitely a plus for our community. I’ve seen people wearing their T-shirts around a lot. In my experience over the years, I think there has been a lot of interest in Wasatch beers from the consumer point of view,” Shetler said.
Nearly 25 years after the arrival of Wasatch Beers, another beer maker launched a brewery in Park City. The founder and president of Shades of Pale Brewing Company, which is located on Woodbine Way and began shipping beer last spring, credited Schirf with advancing the industry in a manner that allowed others to succeed.
“Definitely a trailblazer . . . He started this before any brewers were in Utah,” said Trent Fargher, the key figure at Shades of Pale, adding, “For him to be in business 25 years, obviously he did something right.”